floor patches
 

My truck is painted and together; since I am on quarantine thought I would work on the floors since someone covered the worst parts w tar and riveted them down.

Wondering if I take these small sections out how much I need to brace and how I would brace if the doors and everything is still in place painted. Any suggestions?

I have both patch panels for the floors and kick panels. Should I just cut out the major rust? On the passengers side I don't think I would really need to remove the whole pan.

Re: floor patches
 

I would cut out as little original metal as possible, Just make sure you cut out all the weak, rusted metal. If you do one side at a time, I dont think you would need to brace the cab

Re: floor patches
 

while it's not the accepted repair... i have successfully repaired floor holes with fiberglass mat. since your truck is painted you might want to look into it. a chevy II and elcamino with swiss cheese holes similar to what you have. the chevy II looked great when i sold it 5 yrs later, the elco was patched in 2001 and my son still drives it.

Re: floor patches
 

I used patch metal, flux welder, and the forbidden JB Weld (lots of it). I will then be spraying the floor with rust converter. Sound insulation will then go down and then a fairly original look rubber floor mat.

I like keeping original as much as possible....hate the stamped floors from China.
Joe
54 Chevy 3100

Re: floor patches
 

First you have to clean all of that tar out of there before you can do anything. Then get on the bottom side and make sure you have it just as clean of any tar, undercoating or grease as the topside is. I had a good bonfire going one time when I started welding on a floorboard before checking the other side to see what was on it and assumed that it was bare or just painted metal. That old spray on undercoating burns pretty good.
From what I see I agree with the cut out just what you need to and put in smaller patches. Get back to solid rust free metal and go from there.

I saved the photo, flipped it because my old eyes don't do sideways well at all and the expanded it out on my laptop and can't see all that much rustout unless that tar is hiding a lot.

Re: floor patches
 

Thanks! All that tar was covering lost of rust. They covered it with a sheet of galvanized steel and painted over that. I have been cutting out the spots cleaning up all the dirt in the support braces coating with POR15 and replacing them. One more kick panel and I’ll be done w the cab.

Re: floor patches
 

pics

Re: floor patches
 

I need help making homemade floor panel or firewall panel. I need to know how to make groove notches? Iam trying google search on the correct word. Need help.

Re: floor patches
 

gabe, look up bead roller, its the too you need but they don't usually have a deep throat so the panel needing grooves needs to be able to be fed through the machine one way to groove one edge then fed through the other way to groove the 2nd edge.
are you still workoing on the trailblazer swap?

https://turbofuture.com/industrial/W...ht-Bead-Roller
check out lazze meatl shaping tips and tricks. he has some good info on how to do stuff. nice machines but a little spendy. great ideas though.many youtubes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7FjsekUKRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XBxVtocDqc

Re: floor patches
 

Thanks for the info. My trailblazer swap has been very slow. Busy with live, family and new job. Maybe this summer I'll re-start. I just need to refuel my motivation on this project by seeing classic trucks YouTube videos.

I finished floor pans and firewall. I am not too happy with my work but what the heck just hide it under the carpet.

Iam In the process of rebuilding the door skin and hinges. Videos just make them very easy but i guess i got the wrong sheetmetal gauge and I am struggling to shape it.

I ll post some pics when I'll finish the metal work then paint prep.

Re: floor patches
 

Keep plugging away at it and little by little you will make forward progress. Try martinsr's idea of 5 minutes a day if you can. Sometimes all you get done is set up for a small job but it's still forward motion.
Post up a few pics when you get time. You dont have to finish something to post a pic of it. We all like to see what's getting done on other guys projects.

Re: floor patches
 

What gauge metal did you end up with for your door shins? How high up the door will you be going?
I haven't got to the doors yet. I decided to start at the back and work forward, finishing everything completely as I go to be ready for paint. Not quite done the box, needs inside the box sanded and epoxied as well as the front side of the front box panel. Gotta take the box off for that and just dont have the shop space or time yet.

Re: floor patches
 

hey salty, nice job. are those panels prefabbed or did you build them? fit is pretty good by the pics.
when welding in panels like these I like to use weld through primer on the parts prior to welding. that way the back side is coated with something except for the actual welded spots. you can't be perfect but at least something is better than nothing. there is copper and zinc. zinc of course spatters more. ensure to cut the wire on the mig each time for a nice sharp tip that starts without skipping around looking for a connection.
keep the [pics coming, we love seeing forward motion on a build. sometimes it lights a fire under us to get after our own stuff.

Re: floor patches
 

@dsraven
Yea, the panels are prefabbed. They didn't match the bead rolling from factory, but eventually plan fatmat and carpet, so no one will see them. I hit all the areas I could get in with rust converter and POR15 before welding them all up. I can access most of them from the bottom of the cab too. Some areas I did use weld thru primer, but depended on the area.
Your right about lighting a fire. I took a break for a week then saw others threads and made myself get back out there, now moving again.

POR15 (gray) inside the cab up behind the dash then the bottom of the cab (black). I should probably start a build thread since this may be a while...